Heronstairs Stories
by rebelrunningwithscissors
Summary: This is a collection of stories based on William Herondale and James Carstairs. It ranges from the moment they met to them feeding ducks. Disclaimer: I own nothing. Beta Read by SilverCarstairs and dancerox1997. Enjoy! :)


Will Herondale and Jem Carstairs were walking through Hyde Park on another one of England's '_glorious' _summer days. The sun had seemed to have been eaten by a rather large grey cloud that had covered most of the sky. It was around 9 o'clock in the morning and the dew that covered the grass and leaves around them soaked through Will's shoes and was making his feet rather cold, but he carried on walking. The sooner they got back to the institute the better; he could go to the training room and throw knives at things— it always helped him cheer up.

Will had a very stern look on his face and was trying extremely hard not to look to his left, where his _parabatai,_ Jem, was still laughing hysterically. The current situation, in Will's perspective, was not a laughing matter. They had just finished hunting a rather horrible Abbadon demon that had showed Will his greatest fear— ducks. Not just any duck. The Abbadon had changed into a duck the size of a carriage. Whilst Will had stood there petrified Jem had skilfully slain the demon with one swipe of his cane. Will was not amused. Not only had he seen a massive duck, but he wanted to kill the demon. He was the one that had hunted it. He was the one that had found out its whereabouts. But when the time came all he could do was stand there. Of course, it wasn't his fault, if he knew what it would change into then he would have prepared. But then again, he thought, how could you prepare for a fifteen foot duck? He shivered at the memory.

They had just walked through a small pathway of trampled grass and leaves, worn away by people trying to make a short cut instead of walking around the pond, when Jem exclaimed with a false look of shock on his face "Watch out!" Will turned around startled to see a small duck ten inches away from him. He jumped back in surprise as Jem continued to say "Stay calm. It can probably smell fear." Will then proceeded to slap Jem, harder than he meant to, over the head with the back of his hand.  
"It is not funny," Will protested, "You never know what they are thinking about. They are bloodthirsty creatures."

"Well they can't be that bloodthirsty if _children_ can feed them." Jem said as he pointed at a group of kids breaking of pieces of their sandwiches and feeding it to a group of mallards.

"Just you wait until one of them gets their finger bitten off by one!"

"That could never happen, they aren't strong enough. Have you ever fed a duck?"

"Why in the name of the angel would I want to do that?" Lied Will. He had grown up in Wales of course he had fed a duck before. Jem gave him an incredulous look and continued

"Well why don't you try it out? You can use the poultry pie Bridget gave us for lunch."

"I will have to say no to that _tremendous _idea," Will retorted sarcastically "I would probably create a cannibal group of ducks!"

"Well I bet you one shilling that you wouldn't be _brave _enough to do it. Don't you want to have a pack of cannibal ducks at your disposable?" There was one thing Jem knew— William Herondale _never_ turns down a bet.

Will gave a small sigh and reached into his pocket where the poultry pie was, neatly wrapped up by Bridget, and broke a piece off. Slowly, Will made his way to the nearest duck to them. In Will's mind, it was a disgusting horrible thing with rumpled up feathers. As he approached it, the duck flapped its wings and started to waddle towards him. Will bent down and laid his hand flat out with the piece of pie on his palm and squeezed his eyes shut. He hadn't fed a duck since he had done it with Ella. The memory ran through his head. They were at the Herondale manor in Wales. Will's home. They were feeding the group of ducks that lived in the lake outside the house. He and Ella were so content laughing and telling jokes, when a horrible duck had bitten Will's finger. He had, had a hatred of ducks ever since.

As the duck drew nearer, Will's heart rate became faster. The duck was only two inches away from Will. It lowered its head. It bit down. Instead of biting the large piece of pie, it bit down extremely hard on Will's index finger.

Will jumped back in surprise. His finger was already starting to swell up, though the pain at least wasn't unbearable. He turned around to see that Jem had gone back to laughing hysterically. At that he started to speed walk back to the institute. Now he _really_ needed to throw knifes at things. He learnt one lesson that day – Never trust a duck. **  
**


End file.
